A cup of coffee is a great mid-day pick-me-up. Power naps, as well, are also great for the same purpose, (but I wouldn’t know, I only take naps for hours). Anyway, you wouldn’t think that a cup of caffeine-filled coffee would be good for taking a nap. However, a new study shows that drinking a cup of coffee, followed by a quick 20 minute nap improves cognitive function.
The study was done on 24 year old men, who took these “coffee naps” and then took cognitive tests. They performed better on these tests than people who were given decaf secretly. This is a blind placebo test for the participants.
Supposedly, caffeine takes 20 minutes to settle in, so when you wake from the power nap, you’re supposed to be extra alert. However, the study didn’t go out to prove that the combination causes people to be more attentive; it was made to show how the reason for the increased alertness, which is adenosine, a chemical in the brain.
I was actually a little skeptical of this article because you’d think that caffeine wouldn’t mix well with a nap, but it’s definitely interesting because I often find myself extremely tired and unrefreshed after naps. I will definitely use this method for becoming more awake.
I am a frequent coffee drinker so I find this blog post very interesting. If coffee naps was something that worked, I would be very happy to take them often. I found an article that provides tips to take the perfect coffee nap! I can’t wait to try one, perhaps tomorrow! http://sleepjunkies.com/tips/the-caffeine-nap/
I actually always find myself able to sleep after a good amount of coffee, so I was not surprised by this article. It does not actually cause me instant energy like you said. It does give me energy but only after I drink a fairly good amount of it. Now I know why and I’ll never forget that coffee will not give me instant energy and a 20 minute nap in-between will optimize my energy amounts
This is very interesting because i never drank coffee until I got to PSU in the summer and some days it would make me tired and other days I would be wide awake. I agree with you. After naps I am more tired than i was before i went to sleep. I never used to take naps and now coffee and naps is all i do.
I am someone who can really relate to this study because two of my favorite things to do are drink coffee and take naps. I find it odd, that unlike most people, I do not react to caffeine in the way that I expect to. Coffee often makes me more tired, I don’t know if it is because I crash from the caffeine quicker than most people. I often drink coffee in the afternoon because that is when I enjoy it, and then fall asleep. I guess I’ve been taking naps the right way all along and didn’t even know it! Maybe it’s because the caffeine doesn’t take effect until after we’ve napped for 20 minutes, increasing our alertness? This is a really cool topic, and something I definitely would want to hear more about
If this actually works then it would be a life saver! I am the type of person who loves taking naps but a lot of the time an hour nap leads to a two hour nap and so on because you just can’t get yourself to wake up. Especially being a freshmen in college, this would be such a quick and helpful tool to actually use. I wonder if the amount of caffeine and time frame is really sensitive to whether this method would work or not. Curious to see more about this in the future.
I think it definitely could! Coffee is a good pick-me-up in general, so why wouldn’t it! I actually try to stay away from 5 Hour Energy or any other energy drinks just because of the different warnings I’ve heard. 5 Hour Energy is supposed to be unsafe because of all of the chemicals and vitamins combined with the large amount of caffeine when used by children, or people who haven’t fully developed, like 18 year olds. I’ve read online that there have been around 11 deaths associated with 5 Hour Energy and I haven’t heard good things about the taste– so that’s enough for me to stay away from it!
This is a very intriguing post. I had no clue that you could use such a tactic to be extra alert. Now that I think of it, it’s a very intelligent claim. Although I personally can not relate to this because I never drink coffee and I probably take a nap once every three months, I can suggest this to people! This is an awesome topic, thanks for sharing!
This interests me because I always feel like there isn’t enough time in the day for a nap, but these 20 minute coffee naps may be the exact thing for me. Do you think it has the same effect with something like mountain dew or 5 hour energy?